AMER310

This course introduces students to the history of United States foreign relations toward nations and entities in sub-Saharan Africa and its Diaspora--the Caribbean and Latin America. It will focus on the historical reasoning behind the decision-making of U.S. foreign policy toward Africa and its Diaspora. Policies toward African nations in the past were influenced by the Monroe Doctrine, social issues such as race and gender, the Big Stick and Dollar Diplomacy, the Good Neighbor Policy, the Cold War and national security, the presence of the United Nations, the African American struggle for civil and human rights, and college student movements. The course will begin with the 1821 United States establishment of Liberia, address U.S. imperial aspirations in the Caribbean at the turn of the 20th century, and culminate with the 1980s student movements that agitated for U.S. corporations to divest from South Africa. Moreover, time will be allotted in the last portion of the course to address recent U.S. foreign policy issues toward Africa and its Diaspora.